An awesome visit...

We had a super-fun visitor come to see us....my cousin came down from Oregon to hang out from the 3rd-7th. I don't know if we could have fit more activities into his trip if he tried! It was a nice little break for the kids too. Since we did not travel this summer, I was starting to run out of ideas! This was a little vacation, but at home :)

We started his trip at my parents house. The kids and I were already there, plus we got to go swimming on the 4th! What better to do in the heat of the summer but to make smores though ;)
Pumpkin had to get in on the "throwing the kid" game. She is not as big a fan as her brother though. She would much rather jump into the pool herself than be thrown like this!

The new throw for Critter was the "Super.man"! I was amazed that this kid could keep his body straight while being thrown. I will tell you after 2 weekends of swimming and playing at Nanny's pool, he is much closer to actual swimming than ever before! He kept telling us to let go so he could swim himself. I love his confidence, even though it makes me nervous! And yes, he is about 18+ inches above the water! My dad and cousin sure got their upper body workouts in while throwing this kid :)

Since we got to see fireworks on the 2nd, we went bowling on the 4th! My cousin was not used to the heat, so there was no way I was going to take him out to see the fireworks! The kids had a BLAST! They both love playing W.ii bowling, but this was even more fun. It was especially cute when Critter decided he needed to bowl like us...meaning with his one hand and not between the legs! We were not sure if the ball would get down the lane sometimes, but it did!

This girl seems to be good at everything she does! She beat me when bowling! She almost beat my cousin too! She even knocked down a split...it was crazy cool!

With family visiting, that meant more sweets and special things than normal. After Critter's gymnastics class we went to get a treat before going to Pumpkin's gymnastics class. We went to one of my favorite places!

A pink coconut cupcake with glitter...she was in heaven! :)

I love this pic...I have almost the same picture of the three of them from exactly a year ago. The kids have grown up a little bit though...

On Wed. we drove south to see a beautiful Mission. In all my years here I have wanted to make the drive, but haven't. Since my cousin LOVES history we thought it would be a nice place to go. He had only been here once before for my wedding, we had to show him another area of the state. Plus, this was a shorter trip than up North. The kids did pretty good with the sightseeing too.

The got to climb a little bit after the drive. There is not much better than climbing over rocks to get the wiggles out!

I am so glad we finally made it down here. I was amazed at the beauty. I of course took a lot of pictures, but am only posting those two :)

After we stopped for lunch, Critter was asleep before we even hit the freeway! It was a nice day, especially since Hubby was able to take the day off and come with us!

To say the kids loved having my cousin visit would be an understatement! There many pillow fights, forts, and lots of fun! I am glad we had 2 birthday parties to go to last weekend so they did not miss him too much. It was so nice for me to hang out with him as well. We have never lived in the same state, but when we were little our families would go to my grandparents house at the same time. I have so many memories of vacations with his family. In the last 10 years, we have seen each other only 4 times (this visit included). It is great to spend time as adults together and reminiscing about our childhood!

Thanks cousin for visiting! It was a great time. Next time, we will try to come your way :)